I get the same. Writing up my thesis currently and people definitely ask me about my research just to be nice.
I start out by saying how on a clock, if you add 12 hours to the time then, ignoring the AM/PM part, you get the same time out. So you’re essentially adding a rule to the arithmetic of the clock that adding 12 is identical to adding 0.
I then say I work with number systems that have some manner of clock rule to them. I like to see how we can build up big examples of spaces with this logic from some smallest building bricks.
I think that’s just about the most coherent way of describing my research area. I just get blank stares and “it’s all Greek to me.”